Toukaidou Karasuno Kaidan
by jia.kameda
Summary: Yotsuya Kaidan (Ghost Story of Yotsuya) with Haikyuu characters! No idea what that is? Then either read this and watch the drama unfold! Or google the plot of the kabuki play and then read this adaptation. Or you look for a film with Yotsuya Kaidan as plot. Starring: Oikawa Tooru as Tamiya Iemon, Iwaizumi Hajime as O-Iwa and Kageyama Tobio as O-Ume. CURRENTLY ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

Author's note:

My dear muntchkin kittens and tortoises,

Here is a new story of mine. As mentioned in the plot summary and hinted on in the title, this story is based on the Kabuki play "Toukaido Yotsuya Kaidan". I tried to keep as closely to the plot as I remember it from a Japanese Ghost Lecture I took and I also consulted Wikipedia when my memory did not serve me well.

I do not own, Haikyuu or the story of Yotsuya Kaidan and I don't claim do be original with this story (really, if you read the plot on Wikipedia it is more or less the same as the story on here), I just wanted to make a lecture a bit more interesting for a friend (she complained about having to hear the plot of Yotsuya Kaidan yet again in another lecture and I told her I'd make her a Haikyuu version of it).

I hope you enjoy a "little" ghost story (although it's actually going to be pretty long – 10 chapters!). Update to be expected bi-weekly.

And many thanks to my beta, LilyPhantomhive01

Jia ne!

* * *

Basic information:

As this story is based off on another story and as some (my friend and my beta pointed out 'most') of you are not familiar with the original work, I included a list of characters here, so that if you read the plot of Yotsuya Kaidan first, you can get a grasp of who is who.

I first provide you with the proper name form the character (if their last name is in brackets, that means that they will be known by their first name throughout the story as it would be weird that they have a different last name from their other family members), then with the name of the character from Kabuki who's role they play and I end the whole thing with a short information about the character.

Azumane Asahi - Itou Kihei – rich man, grandfather of Tobio, father-in-law of Kiyoko

(Shimizu) Kiyoko – Oyumi – daughter-in-law of Azumane Asahi, mother of Tobio

(Kageyama) Tobio – Oume – grandchild of Azumane Asahi, child of Kiyoko

Haiba Lev – Okuda Shouzaburou – former employer of Yamaguchi Tadashi

Hinata Shouyou – Omaki – servant of Tobio

Kuroo Tetsurou – Takuetsu – brothel owner

Oikawa Tooru – Tamiya Iemon – poor man, husband of Hajime

(Iwaizumi) Hajime – Oiwa – husband of Oikawa Tooru, brother of Hitoka

Sawamura Daichi – Yotsuya Samon – father of Hajime, Hitoka and Yamaguchi Tadashi

(Yachi) Hitoka – Osode – younger sister of Hajime, fiancée of Tsukishima Kei

Tsukishima Kei – Satoh Yomoshichi – moderately rich guy, fiancé of Hitoka, almost brother-in-law of Oikawa Tooru

Yamaguchi Tadashi – Naosuke – normal guy, in love with Hitoka

Any character that appears in the fic but is not on this list doesn't occupy a role that was in the original work.

A few words to the setting: Please be aware that the world in which this story is set is a different one from the one we are living in or in which the story of Yutsuya Kaidan is set. I hope I'll be able to make that world take shape in a way that is easy to understand.

* * *

Now on to the story:

 **I** t was late afternoon and the weather was still rather warm for an autumn day. Oikawa Tooru was strolling along the river that divided the better part of the town, known as Aoba City or just the city or Aoba, from the dirty suburbs in the southeast. He had not obtained a permission slip to enter the city that day and therefore he had not found any work. The suburb in which he and his husband lived, known as Karasuno, though there was no field to be seen but crows en masse, was not very prosperous and if Oikawa had had a choice, he would not have been living in this dirty bit of town.

To be fair, he had not been living there from the start. When he had been growing up, he had lived in a small town in the northwest of the city. He had had a good live, until he had met Hajime, his beloved O-iwa-chan, his current husband. It had been love at first sight for the two of them. As Oikawa was smart and cunning, he had made Hajime agree on marrying him despite this being against Oikawa's family's wishes. However, he had never imagined his family would oppose his choice so vehemently – which was the root of all Oikawa's current problems.

Despite the support of Hajime's father, Sawamura Daichi, the young couple (both young men had not been much older than seventeen), had not been able to live their life the way Oikawa had been used to. Oikawa's family had cut him off from financial support half a year after the wedding. The couple had scraped by somehow, feeling that loving each other was all that mattered, but after only two years they had accumulated so much debt that they had no choice but to relocate.

Life in the northwest, in Shiratorida, had been a lot more expensive than in Karasuno. However, life in Shiratorida was also a lot less regulated. People with a permanent residence permit of Shiratorida did not need a permission slip to enter Aoba City or were banned from having as many children as they pleased.

Hajime's family, which consisted only of his father and his younger sister Hitoka, had moved with them to Karasuno. It would have been hard for Hajime to be separated from them. The Sawamura family was very close and their philosophy was that they should support each other in any situation. However, that meant that Sawamura Daichi and Hitoka both descended into a financially miserable situation together with Oikawa Tooru and Hajime.

It had now been two almost three years since they had moved to the place they currently lived in. The Oikawa couple would soon be married for five years. They had rented a small flat in a tall, rundown building. It had thin walls, smelled like the back end of a garbage truck and was not located in a street that could be put on a resume, so Oikawa had to scrape by, doing his best to obtain a permission slip to enter the city and look for a day's work. He did not always get one though, as there was only a certain amount of permission slips given out each day and that number varied from day to day. Sometimes, one could buy a permission slip from one of the corrupt officers, but it was not always worth it.

Oikawa sat down on a rock on the riverbank and looked at the horizon. He had not earned any money that day. He wondered if his O-iwa-chan had.

Hajime was working from home, mending clothes for other people. He got a package of clothes delivered to the house every so often and had to be done with his work by five o'clock sharp. Unfortunately, what sounded like a very stable job was not, as the person who brought and collected the clothes sometimes kept the money he owed Hajime or refused to provide him with work, if Hajime complained too much about not receiving his pay on time. But who could blame either? Hajime's employer went gambling with the money he received form his clients and was therefore not always able to pay his employees and Hajime could not pay the most basic bills if he was not given his pay. It was hard on both parties.

A sigh left Oikawa's mouth. He wondered if he should ask Sawamura for some money again. His father-in-law was currently living with Hitoka, in a similarly run down place like his son, two streets down; luckily though, the Sawamuras had a bit more money. Hitoka worked as a washwoman and waitress because her father had fallen ill a lot in the last year due to his age. However ,he was still working as a deliveryman.

Or maybe Hitoka would lend him money; she was engaged to a guy named Tsukishima Kei, also called Satoh. He was from a similar family background as Oikawa but had the advantage of having gained a foothold in the trading industry. His nickname stemmed from there, since he mostly dealt with sugar. Tsukishima was currently travelling to gain more ground in that industry in hopes of eventually being able to take Hitoka away from the suburb back into the city, or at least one of the good towns in the northwest.

Oikawa was hoping against hope that his future brother-in-law would also provide a way out of this shithole for him. But the chance was rather slim. The blond haired man was very cold and didn't value family as highly as his fiancée. He seemed like the type that would only fight for his own, which meant that he might give in to pleas from his wife if she insisted that they'd help her father but never if she wanted help for her brother or his husband.

The brown haired man got up from the stone and walked a couple of meters, trying to decide whether or not he would go to Sawamura's home, when he suddenly saw a man walk down the street.

"Oh, good evening, father." He greeted the older man with a smile, patted his back and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good evening." Sawamura's face looked strained. He was usually quick to have a slight smile on his lips, but today he looked rather worn out. His dark hair seemed more punctuated with grey than ever.

"Are you all right?" Oikawa asked concerned.

"Yes, yes. I'm alright." Sawamura cleared his throat. "In fact, it is very good that I met you here. Will you not walk with me for a bit?"

"Sure. I was thinking of visiting you one of these days anyway." Oikawa smiled.

Sawamura frowned. He knew what it meant when Oikawa said that he wanted to visit him. They walked for a while making idle conversation and the older man wondered how he could breach the topic that had been on his mind for a while now in a way that would not offend Oikawa too much. He liked the boy, had liked him from the start and not because he was from a rich family, but because of his attentions to Hajime. However, lately he had not seemed to be as much in love with his son, and to be perfectly honest, Hajime had seemed exhausted as well. Despite being only twenty-three years of age he had the bearings of a forty-year-old man. He behaved even sicklier than Sawamura at times, which worried his father a great deal. Especially as it got clearer with every month that passed, that the couple would probably never be able to adopt a child, which was Hajime's greatest wish.

When living in Karasuno, adopting or having natural children was a highly regulated business. Whoever did not meet the requirements for having a child would not be able to get one or keep it. There were women who got their children taken from them right after birth because they did not have enough money to take care of the child, but there were also cases where older children were taken from their families because they had fallen on hard times.

In their current situation, there was no way the authorities would allow the Oikawa's to adopt a child. Because of this, Sawamura had decided to suggest that Oikawa should separate from Hajime. Maybe if they would spend some time apart then they could change their luck. Maybe then they would be able to find better jobs.

"How have you been doing lately?" The older man asked after a while. He did not look at his conversation partner but looked up into the mostly dark sky. Night had fallen and the stars were about to come out.

"To be honest…" Oikawa did not need to finish the sentence. Living in the suburb was hard on everyone and there were always stretches when life was harder than usual. "O-iwa-chan had a fight with his employer and the price for the permission slip has gone up again."

Sawamura sighed, knowing what Oikawa would say next and so he let him say it. Let him lower his head and ask for money; money, which Sawamura could not lend him, as he himself had just spent the better part of his income on a medical bill. Seeing such a proud person bow to him and be rejected made him feel awkward. His son-in-law looked dejected by being refused this favour but didn't say anything. "You know", Sawamura said after a while. "Maybe, you should…" He started to explain to him why separating from Hajime would be a good idea. He looked him in the eyes and used a serious tone, trying to make him submit to his authority as the older one of them. However, he saw anger and frustration dwell up in the other's eyes. "Have you never thought of that?"

"Never." Oikawa stated plainly. "You hurt me with your careless words. I love O-iwa-chan, I chose him and subsequently this live."

"But you are unhappy."

"What do you know!" Oikawa shoved Sawamura. "Do you not care that Hajime loves me too?"

"I do." Sawamura protested. "But I see that both of you are being unhappy!"

"I though you were on our side!" Oikawa got angrier by the minute. He began talking about the time when he had chosen to stay with Hajime rather than abiding to his family's wishes and how he had loved Sawamura for being so understanding towards them. He told him that he had always admired him, but that he had let him down. He continued to shove Sawamura angrily while his speech turned into a flood of words.

Sawamura tried to put up some resistance, but he was not in good health and Oikawa had always been the stronger of the two. As the older man tried to evade being physically assaulted by his son-in-law, who got more violent the longer he talked; Sawamura lost his footing and fell on the ground, hitting his head on a stone.

Oikawa stared down on his father-in-law who did not move. He waited, ten seconds, twenty seconds, half a minute, a minute. He blinked. Why did he not move? He ran a hand through his fluffy, slightly messy brown hair. What had just happened?

He kneeled down, realizing that Sawamura's chest was not moving anymore. Something like fear gripped his heart. As he touched the older man's head, he felt something slightly warm and wet. He did not dare look at his hand as he pulled it back in shock of the realization of what he must have just touched. He gulped.

Panicking he looked around, but no one else was to be seen in the dark night near the riverbank. He blinked a few times and turned around once more; feeling paranoid and wanting to make sure there was really no one there. He ruffled his hair, wondering what he should do. It would be bad if someone found his father-in-law's body. Suddenly Oikawa's blood ran cold. If someone found Sawamura's corpse here they would surely find out that he was responsible for this and then he would not be let off lightly. He could never risk that.

The brown haired man straightened his hair, looked around a third time and then he lifted the corpse up and dumped it in the river, hoping the water would carry him far away to a place where the police would not be able to identify him.

He watched the corpse drown in the water and make its way down stream ever so slowly. Oikawa's heart was racing.

He had just killed his father-in-law.

Of course it had been an accident, but still.

 _This was bad._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **I** t was late that night when Hitoka finally went to bed. Her father had not returned home and she had been worried, but she did have to get some sleep or else she would not be able to work the next day. However, sleep did not come to her easily. Apart from the fact that her father was still somewhere out there, she also had to worry about their finances. She knew that her father had just spent more than half their income on a medical bill that they should have paid a month ago but had not been able to, which meant that now they did not have enough money to pay their rent, their gas bill and their food. They could afford to pay off one of their debts but certainly not all of them in their entirety.

Hitoka sighed, her job as a waitress did not pay well and the work for the laundry company was usually more trouble than it was worth. She washed clothes and sheets for a company that sold second hand goods. Every bed sheet, tablecloth or item of clothing she had to wash was something that a person in Aoba had deemed not good enough for their home anymore. Sometimes when the young, blond woman held one of the dirty sheets in her hands and saw a stain, which could easily be removed, she wondered how different life must be in the city. She had been only fourteen years old when her family had relocated from the northwest to Karasuno and she had become acquainted with her new lifestyle. She could hardly remember how it had been like to be living in a better neighbourhood, especially since her family had never really been rich. Her mother had been sickly after having given birth to her second child and so the hospital bills had had piled up. On top of this, her father had also been committed to providing financial support for his former mistress who had given birth to his child two years before Hitoka had been born. After Hitoka's birth, her father had ceased to meet his mistress, but he had not had it in his heart to not pay her some sort of child support. Nevertheless his former mistress had been forced to go live in Karasuno and had died when the child, a boy, had been about twelve years old. After that, they had lost contact and Hitoka did not know what had become of her half-brother.

Her own mother had died the year before Hajime had met Oikawa. The bills for the funeral had been ridiculously high, but Hajime had never held a proper job and stopped looking for one after having become engaged to Oikawa, as his fiancé had promised to provide for him. It had been at that moment that Hitoka had known that they would not be able to continue to stay in Shiratorida for long.

Hitoka sighed before falling asleep that night and she sighed when she woke up again the next morning. Her father had not come home after she had gone to sleep and she was now even more worried than before. So she got up, dressed and went over to her brother's home to check if their father had gone to stay the night there. He had done so in the past when he had been coming home late or when he had met Oikawa on the street and accompanied him for a drink.

As Hitoka was walking down the street she heard a bell ring. It signalled that the city gate was opening for permission slip holders and she knew that she did not have enough time to go to Hajime's house before work. The pothouse she worked at was about forty minutes in walking distance, so she had better hurry up. The city gate's bell was rung at exactly seven thirty and her workplace usually opened at eight. Hitoka took a deep breath and started running.

* * *

 **W** ork was as unpleasant as ever, but Yamaguchi was used to it. There was no such thing as pleasant work in Karasuno anyway. He could only dream of how working in Aoba was like and how people actually went to their workplace because they wanted to, rather than because they needed to.

As he walked through the streets during one of his errands, he heard the lunch bell being rung. The lunch bell was a different bell from the city gate bell as it was located in the middle of the Karasuno suburb and was rung two times a day; once at midday and once at midnight. Its official name was the Middle-of-the-two-parts-of-the-day Bell, but as the general public was not awake at midnight and the name was too long and stiff, it had been dubbed the lunch bell.

Using the lunch bell being rung as an excuse, Yamaguchi decided that his errand could wait. He turned around at the next street corner and started walking towards his favourite tavern. It was a small shady place, even by Karasuno's standards, but one of the waitresses there was really sweet. She was not very tall, had shoulder length blond hair and was easily frightened by burly costumers. Yamaguchi sometimes wondered why she had decided to accept the work if she was not able to hold her ground when bullied – not that he was one to talk; he usually avoided conflicts as well or gave in too soon when people who were physically dominant were his opponents in an argument.

He entered the place, which was slowly getting crowded and took a seat at a small table not far from the counter. He knew that this was the part of the tavern to which the girl called O-Sode usually served. Her nickname stemmed from the fact that she also worked as a washerwoman and often had wet sleeves.

"Your order?"

He looked up from the wooden menu in astonishment. "Where's the small chick?" He asked instead of answering. The person who had come up to his table was also not very tall and had shoulder length blond hair, but that was where the similarities to Yamaguchi's crush ended. First of all, the person who had come to take his order was a guy and his hair was not naturally blond – black roots were growing out and so he had what could most accurately be called a pudding head.

"Chick?" The guy spoke slowly, almost lazily and without emotion. His eyes were dead and he seemed apathetic to what he was doing. "You mean O-Sode? She was fired today."

"Fired?" Yamaguchi's eyes widened.

"Yeah. She was late for work." The guy shrugged. "So, your order?"

"Oh. Potato salad and veal sausage."

The guy nodded and walked off without another word.

So she had been laid off. Where was he now supposed to meet her? Yamaguchi thought as he panicked. He had liked her so much! She was such a sweetheart and was always cheerful, a rather rare quality in this place. Not that everyone in Karasuno was depressed or apathetic like his new waiter, but most people weren't friendly with strangers. They kept to themselves and it was difficult to get to know a person and see them laugh. O-Sode had been his oasis in this desert. Loosing her was painful.

It took about twenty minutes before his waiter returned with a plate. His name was Kenma, Yamaguchi remembered that he had seen him before, but at that time he had still had black hair. Kenma set the plate down without a word and was about to walk away when Yamaguchi asked: "Any idea where she went?"

"O-Sode?" Kenma seemed honestly confused as to why someone would ask him such a question.

"Who else?" Yamaguchi frowned. It was not in his nature to be noisy or to snap at someone, but Kenma was not being very helpful right now.

"Hm… I just heard a rumour from another customer that she might be at the Cat's Den, the owner there had hung out a sign saying that they had a cute new hire. "

Yamaguchi's eyes widened. His precious O-Sode had been reduced to working in such a place? His heart sunk. Seeing as Yamaguchi had no further questions, Kenma turned around and walked away, leaving the freckled man alone with his thoughts.

Was there something he could do to help O-Sode? He instantly started to wonder. She was so innocent and sweet; she would not survive in a place like the Cat's Den. No, that place was too cruel and O-Sode would break within a week. Her kindness would be taken advantage of and her soul would be crushed. They would suck the life out of her, take all the cheerfulness and goodness of her and in the end they might accidentally burden her with new life, new life that would remind her of the soul sucking work she had had to do to scrap by.

Yamaguchi froze in his movements. Suddenly his food did not taste like anything and he was sure the dreadful sausage was a bad omen. Why had he gone and ordered something so perverted? He eyed the sausage with suspicion. Did he want to feel O-Sode's pain of when she would see her first customer? The thought of putting it into his mouth suddenly disgusted him.

He paused, his knife dangling over the long, phallic piece of meat. Or was he trying to take revenge for O-Sode's innocence being lost forever by taking this food item as a stand in? His eyes narrowed as he stabbed his food with full force as if he wanted hoped to cause someone great pain, before smashing his cutlery on the table.

He blinked, he was about to get up and walk away but then he remembered that he did not have the luxury of wasting food. So he took his cutlery back in his hands and finished off what was left on his plate before paying and leaving the tavern. When stepping out in the bright midday sun, he blinked and decided that he would finish his errand as quickly as possible and then check if the rumour about the Cat's Den was really true.

* * *

 **S** itting in the small room that her new employer Kuroo had shown her into, Hitoka felt very unsure if this was really the best way to earn money. Of course, this line of work was well known for being well paid, actually better paid than any other work in the whole Suburb, but she could only work in this profession for a limited amount of time and if her fiancé would ever find out that she had descended to this kind of work, she did not know if he would still want to be with her. Thinking of the tall blond man who had offered to take care of her for the rest of her miserable life made her fight back tears. He was too good to be true, loving her despite claiming to be unable to love anyone. He had never in so many words said that he loved her, but for him to ask her for her hand in marriage, she knew that Tsukishima was serious about her. But she also knew that he had a stern moral compass. He knew what he wanted, he knew how he could achieve it and so he worked for it. He therefore also expected _her_ to behave in a way that would not sabotage their future. However, doing what she was about to do was a serious breach of their understanding, a betrayal of his trust and Hitoka felt unsure if his attachment to her was strong enough to make him take the risk of keeping her as his wife if he would ever find out what she was about to do now. In addition to Tsukishimas own possible aversion to the morally impure work, he would need to take into consideration that merchants and customers in Aoba where very particular about with whom they did business and they would certainly avoid him if it where to be known that he had married a former prostitute.

Oh why had Tsukishima left Karasuno at this time? If he did not have to go to another town for business then she could have asked him for a loan and look for honest work to get through this slump. Hitoka sighed.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Kuroo stuck head through the opening. "Got acquainted with your workplace?" He asked, a sleazy smile on his face. She nodded, unsure of how to answer. "Good, I have your first customer for you."

The door fully opened and a man of average height, brown hair and freckles on his face stepped in. Hitoka immediately recognized him as a regular from her old job. "Yamaguchi-san…?"

"O-Sode-chan." He smiled wearily and took another step into the room. As it was a very small room, he was therefore now standing right in front of her, his crotch right in her face as she was sitting on the soft floor. The room had been floored with a semi-hard mattress so that there was no need for a bed. "I was at the Snake's Pit for lunch and I was told by Kenma that you had been laid off for coming in late." He looked down at her. He did not seem to mind that she was sitting and he was not. Hitoka wondered if she was supposed to stand up, but she was not comfortable with the idea since she had been dressed in weird clothes that weren't all that decent when she was standing upright, so she tried her best to conceal that fact by sitting. "I was so worried about you, so I asked Kenma if he knew what you were doing now and he told me that I would most likely find you here."

She nodded, unsure of what she was supposed to say. He seemed so different from when she had last see him in the tavern. But maybe she was imagining things? This was after all a different place from where they usually met, so maybe she was just as different from her normal self as he was.

"So I came over." He explained. "It broke my heart knowing that you were here… I thought the least I could do was help you out. I don't have much money, so paying to be with you here is probably the only thing I can do to make your life a bit easier."

It dawned on her that he too was here as a customer. Yes, he wanted to help, but obviously he wanted to be compensated for helping her. How could it be any different? She suddenly felt nauseous.

"Maybe" He continued. "You could help me get it up first." He unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants, revealing his genitals. Like most people in Karasuno, he did not bothered with underwear. "It's my first time too. I'm so happy that it will be with you." His eyes were shining.

Hitoka turned her head so she did not have to look at how he grabbed his penis. She breathed in deeply. He smelled. How could he not? Most people smelled in the suburb, they were not like the people in Aoba City or Shiratorida who used showers frequently and put on perfume.

"Are you shy?"

She did not dare to look up at him again. This was definitely not her imagination. He was different. He was not sweet and nice as he usually was. He was like every other man on the street, driven by lust and thinking he was entitled to it. She was disgusted.

He grabbed her head, forcing her to face his dick. "I've been dreaming of having you so close, you know… Don't… Please don't tell me you don't want this." He pleaded and sounded almost unsure.

He was a kid after all, she suddenly thought. This was not in his nature. Maybe she could make him reconsider what he was doing?

* * *

" **K** uroo-san."

He hated being called by his employees but there was probably no helping it. He stood up from his desk and walked to the next room where Akaashi sat. He was basically his accountant, but the black haired man also managed the shop entrance and looked after the basic needs of the staff that worked in the rooms.

"What is it?" Kuroo asked with a grumpy smile.

"I hate to say this, but that guy you just let in to the room of the new girl…"

"What about him?"

"He paid with counterfeits."

Kuroo cursed and walked off to find the room of the new girl. He would beat the crap out of that guy who had dared to try to tuck him up.

* * *

 **O** n his way to the Cat's Den Yamaguchi had wondered what he would do once he reached there. He knew he did not have enough money to pay for the lovely O-Sode-chan but the thought of another man having her first drove him crazy. He already hated the fact that that cold hearted, tall and unpleasant fellow Tsukishima had set his eyes on the lovely, small, sparkling person and was going to marry her in the not so distant future. The thought of her being with yet another man tormented him.

And yet it did not exactly sit well with him that he was going to that kind of establishment to meet her. Even if it meant saving her from a stranger…

The Cat's Den was no place for her.

Karasuno in itself was no place for her. She was too cheerful… Too innocent… She was his angel.

And angels did not belong in hell…

Maybe it was strange that he had formed such a strong attachment to someone who was not even his friend, but she just looked like the person he had found a picture of in his mother's dairies after she had died. He did not know why she had had that picture stored away, since it had neither name nor date written on it and nothing about it was mentioned in her dairies, so he could only guess, who the woman on the picture was. He had dubbed her his angel, until he had seen O-Sode for the first time and had fallen for her. She was perfect.

And now that perfection was to be destroyed.

As he was standing in front of her with his pants down he wondered if maybe he just liked being the one who was burdened with this task. Maybe it was better to be hated by her than to not be in her thoughts at all, because he would not have been allowed to comfort her.

He forced her mouth open with his fingers. "Maybe you'll come to like it" he whispered and was about to shove his member into her mouth when the door was opened with so much force that it banged against the thin wall and the handle probably left a dent in it. The owner of the place stood in the doorframe, he was fuming.

"Step back right now!" Kuroo shouted. "You slimy, little, cheating bastard!" Yamaguchi was grabbed by his collar and dragged out of the room within seconds.

The young, blond woman was left alone shivering from what had just happened, but was glad that this nightmare had been interrupted. A while later Akaashi came to tell her that she could go home for the day. Having her first customer beaten up was not a good omen for her to continue work for the rest of the day.

Yamaguchi was not as lucky as her. He took a heavy beating and was unable to move for the rest of the day. He lay outside a dumpster where Kuroo had left him after beating the crap out of him and Yamaguchi wasn't sure if he would ever walk again. He had actually planned to go to work again after his visit to the Cat's Den, but he was not sure if his ribs were still intact so he just lay there on the heap of garbage, hoping he had no open wound that would be infected by some bug or something.

When night had fallen, he finally had rested long enough to stand up again and head to the next pub. He was in no mood to go home and just stay in his room. He had to drink or else he would not be able to get rid of his frustration. He had been banned from the Cat's Den and so his only chance to meet his lovely O-Sode was gone. Angrily he went to the next pub and drank as much as he could with his limited funds.

It was past midnight when he was kicked out of the pub and he staggered through the streets until he reached the riverbank. He was about to lie down in the grass when he saw two tall figures with short hair and travelling clothes in the distance. He immediately recognized one of them to be Tsukishima. He was back earlier than Yamaguchi had expected but that did not matter. He would give him a nice welcome; he decided and began to walk towards the figures.

They came closer but suddenly there was only one guy. What had happened to the second guy?

Well, who cared…

Yamaguchi staggered closer. "Oi Satoh!" He called but did not get an answer; the guy did not turn around. So Yamaguchi started yelling again, but still received no reaction.

Well, what had he expected from the co-cold guy? He was toooo righteous to assssociate himself with a drunk. He was toooo prrroperr to even take notice of someone as low and dirrrty as… as…

Yamaguchi almost tripped. He steadied himself on a fence post. He had no idea where that fence post had come from, because there was no fence to speak off. The wire from the fence had been stolen ages ago and most other poles too. He was also not sure why he pulled the post out of the ground and held it in his hand. He only knew that he was suddenly so angry with Tsukishima.

How dare he ignore him…

How dare he let the sweet and innocent woman he wanted to marry work in a brothel?

How dare he ignore him, when he was calling him out on it?

How dare he even think of being the right man for his O-Sode?

How dare he ignore him!

And that was when he struck him first. He swung the fence post over his head and struck the taller man's back with all the force he could muster. He hit him and hit him and hit him over and over and over again until the tall man was lying on the ground unmoving, until Yamaguchi noticed that this man's hair was grey and slick and not blond and spikey. That this man's coat was not that of a traveller's but of a vendor's. That this guy was by no means Tsukishima Kei but Haiba Lev, the man who had let him off only half a year ago.

As he dragged the body down the riverbank towards the water, Yamaguchi could not help but notice that there was another man doing the exact same thing. The brown haired man snickered. What a coincidence that the other one too should have brown hair.

* * *

 **T** ranslation note:

Just in case someone was wondering – the 'Sode' 袖 in 'O-Sode' is indeed the kanji for "sleeve", however, the kanji for the last name 'Satoh' 佐藤 is not the same as the kanji for 'satoh' as in sugar 砂糖.

 **A** uthor's note:

Hello my tortoises and munchkins kittens

I ought to give many, many, many thanks to my beta LilyPhantomhive01 who betaed this chapter and also the last one, as well as some chapters from my story Most Important. Trust me when I say that having a beta (especially one that is as good and fun to work with as Lily) is the best thing ever.

Okay, nothing else to mention here, I guess.

Jia ne


	3. Chapter 3

**I** t had been early in the morning when Tooru had finally come home. Hajime had been half awake, hearing the front door creak open and snap shut. The black haired man waited for his husband to climb into their bed.. He heard Tooru come into the bedroom, their only room besides the kitchen, but the mattress beside him remained empty. Instead, Tooru sat down in front of the window, staring out at the moon.

"What… what is it?" Hajime asked sleepily. "Can't sleep?"

"O-Iwa-chan - did I wake you?" Tooru asked but with little compassion in his voice.

"No, I've been half awake and half asleep for a while now." Hajime yawned. "Come into the bed and rest. You'll need your strength tomorrow again."

"I'm fine." Tooru did not move. He remained where he sat and stared out of the window. Hajime wondered what he could possibly be seeing there, but did not ask. His very own Shitty-kawa was sometimes strange and that could not be changed, so he let him be, turned around and went back to sleep.

When it was time to get up again, Oikawa was still sitting by the window, but his eyes were closed. Hajime smiled as he draped a blanket around him and went to make breakfast. This day he had a lot of work to get done, his employer had brought over a batch of expensive clothing which needed mending that would take longer than a day to fix, so he had been given a week. At the same time he had to fix some other things as well, as he discovered upon opening the front door of the small apartment. There was a package with a note saying that all those things had to be done by five.

Hajime sighed when he picked the package up and brought it into the house. He opened it while making breakfast and sorted the things into three piles. Those clothes that could easily be fixed, those things that needed a bit longer to be fixed and those things that were easy but had to be fixed very carefully because of the fabric. When he had finished preparing breakfast, he went back into the bedroom to wake Tooru.

They sat down at the breakfast table and ate in silence for a while before Tooru started to talk about how he had met Hajime's father the night before and that the old man had told him that he was going on some sort of travel because of his health. Apparently the doctor had recommended a healing pilgrimage. Hajime nodded, thinking it was rather a curious type of cure but maybe it was cheaper than conventional medicine.

Half an hour later Tooru left the apartment to obtain a permission slip, leaving Hajime alone to do his work.

* * *

 **T** obio had lived the entirety of his short life in Aoba as the youngest member and only heir of a rather wealthy family known as the Itou-clan, due to their main possession of land being found in the region of Itou, though their family name was in fact Azumane. Tobio, lovingly called 'Oume', because he was as pretty as a plum blossom, despite being a man, had been raised with all possible care by his mother, Lady Kiyoko and his lord grandfather Azumane Asahi, Lord Itou, which meant of course that he was spoiled rotten and was exceedingly inexperienced with the real world. He had been given a young companion of his own after reaching the tender age of fifteen years, so that he could leave the family home without his lady mother or lord grandfather, as they had the old fashioned believe that even the only son of a household of their standing was not to be seen wandering outside alone. Of course this was also a precaution, Tobio was of a slender figure, had fair skin, beautiful facial features, black hair like the feathers of a crow and the appearance of a king, so of course he would be targeted by thugs and thieves if left alone.

Hinata Shouyou was a proper young man with a lot of energy. He had been brought up in a middleclass family and had received a good education. However, his character was a bit fickle and he was easily excitable. Therefore it was not unusual that he was distracted while walking with Tobio through town. It was only thanks to Tobio's habit of not complaining to his lady mother or lord grandfather about mundane things, like his companion's inability to stay by his side or other people avoiding him because of his haughty attitude, that Hinata still had his job. Or maybe it was because Tobio's lady mother had a soft spot for him, as Hinata's family had worked for the Shimizu family for three generations, which had been why she had asked the head Lord Itou, her father-in-law, if it was permissible to hire Hinata as Tobio's companion.

That morning, the two young men had left the main residence of the Azumane household shortly before eleven as they had decided to take a walk in the park before they would go to the theatre to attend the matinee concerto given by the one and only Ushijima Wakatoshi. He was the best tenor of his generation but not easily persuaded to give concertos. It was even more rare to see him on the same stage as the virtuous but eccentric pianist Tendou Satori. The two of them would be accompanied by the White Bird Orchestra in the hands of Shirabu Kenjirou. Tobio, who himself was a passionate singer had asked his lord grandfather to purchase tickets for that special event when news had broken that they had indeed managed to convince those three luminary people to work together.

Tobio and Hinata had left the house on foot, as neither the park nor the theatre was very far away from where they lived.

Tobio had been composed, as always. The black haired man had walked dignifiedly down the road, through the gates of the park and just dropped hints in his conversations with anyone he knew that passed by, how he was very much looking forward to being able to see such a great performance.

Meanwhile Hinata was quite literally jumping up and down from excitement. Despite his upbringing in a strict household and his employment in an even stricter one, he had never been able to learn how to hide his emotions properly. So he ran here and there and hardly stayed with Tobio, whose side he was not supposed to leave, to speak to strangers or look at something while trying to not think about the concerto, because it would make him even giddier.

As the orange haired man was talking to a young girl and telling her how beautiful the crown of daisies she was wearing was, he suddenly heard a shout from Tobio. Hinata turned around to see a very badly dressed man with buzz cut shove Tobio and another man, equally badly dressed but with a bleached Mohawk, tearing away Tobio's expensive umbrella walking stick, which had been a gift from his grandfather. As Tobio tended to forget his umbrellas at home and therefore frequently got drenched in sudden showers, but never left the house without a walking stick, as it was a very fashionable item to have for young men, Lord Itou had commissioned a very well known artisan to make a convertible walking stick.

It took Hinata a moment to realize what he was supposed to do and jumped up, he had previously been squatting down on the level of the girl he had been talking to, and started to make his way over to his employer. However, before he had even crossed half the distance between him and Tobio, another man had stepped up and punched the guy who had shoved Tobio in the face.

When Hinata finally arrived at the side of his employing companion, the other man, he had chocolaty brown, wavy hair and was modestly clothed, had reclaimed the umbrella walking stick, given it back to Tobio and chased the two men out of the park.

"Oh my! What happened! O-Ume-sama." The orange haired man fussed over Tobio who had fallen on the ground when having been shoved and whose back was now full of dust. "O-Ume-sama, are you quite alright? I am so sorry! I was just over there and everything was so fast!"

"It's okay." Tobio grumbled and gripped his umbrella walking stick tightly. "I'm sure tiny as you are you wouldn't have been much help against those thugs."

Hinata did not have time to take offence, as other people came over to ask if the heir of the Itou fortune was in any way hurt and to reassure him that they too were quite shocked about what just had happened. It took a moment before they all regained their composure again and Tobio was able to see the person who had rescued him standing at a bit of a distance from the crowd.

The stranger was tall, Tobio noticed now, and fairly handsome, if one looked past the shabby clothing.

Well, he was certainly not of Aoba, but rather neatly dressed for someone who only came to this part for a days work. When the stranger noticed Tobio looking at him, he gave him a dashing smile, waved and turned to go, apparently satisfied to see that the person he had helped looked fine.

It was not a habit of Tobio's to run after strangers, but for some reason he pushed the people around him aside and started hurrying towards the broad back of the man who made his way towards the park's gates.

"Please wait", Tobio called after the man, who immediately stopped in his tracks. The young man did not exactly know what he was supposed to say now, as he was not exactly familiar with the custom of expressing gratitude, but he stepped forward nonetheless. The handsome stranger had turned around and looked at him, waiting for him to speak, so Tobio inhaled deeply and stuttered: "Th- Tha- Thank… yo…" Blushing from embarrassment.

"It was no trouble at all." The stranger smiled. "I only did what a hundred other men would have done as well."

"Oh, but it was you who did it." Hinata piped up, giving Tobio a slight scare. "What is your name?"

"Oikawa Tooru", answered Tobio's saviour, still sporting a dashing smile. "But I am also called Tamiya, after my birthplace. May I know your names as well?"

"Oh, I am Hinata Shouyou." The orange haired man grinned and pointed to his companion. "And this is Tobio, the lovely O-Ume, grandson of the great Azumane Asahi, Lord Itou."

Tobio poked Hinata with his elbow. "Don't brag", he murmured, slightly embarrassed to having been presented like this to a supposedly unsuspecting stranger. "We… We ought to show our gratitude." His voice wasn't very loud and so he wasn't sure if this Tamiya had heard him at first, but as the man started to shake his head in disapproval, his heart sunk.

"No, no. That won't do. I only did what others would do, I do not need anything from you."

"But you must." Tobio insisted, a little bit louder now.

"But if he doesn't want anything?" Hinata seemed slightly confused.

"How long have you been my companion and how long have you hid your perfectly savage sense of propriety?" Tobio smacked him over the back of his orange mopped head, immediately regretting the outburst of emotions, like he would call it, and apologizing to Oikawa for the rudeness. "We'll give you something. It is not much, but please take it." He handed him a small amount of cash.

The brown haired man made a show of refusing the money but ended up accepting it anyway before their ways parted as Hinata pointed out to Tobio that they had to leave if they were not to miss Ushikawa Wakatoshi's performance. They said their good-byes exchanging formally their address cards and then the two young men hurried away towards the theatre.

They did not see the glee and satisfaction sparkling in Oikawa's eyes as he counted the money, which was for their standard very little but for Oikawa a lot. Even just a third of it was a lot and he congratulated himself for the great scheme.

* * *

 **T** obio had not and would probably not in the foreseeable future, be able to forget the good-looking man with the wavy brown hair and matching eyes. _Oikawa Tooru_ , he thought, _Tamiya_ , what a nice sounding name. A somehow familiar sounding name too.

"So you liked him?" Hinata asked straight out as they left the theatre.

"Who?" Tobio looked confused and blushed.

"Ushiwaka. We just heard him." Bewilderment was to be read in Hinata's eyes.

"Oh… Yes… He was good." Tobio nodded, too embarrassed to admit that he had not been paying a lot of attention to the concerto. How had he been able to forget about all this just because of that stranger? He sighed.

"Is something the matter?" Hinata seemed concerned.

"Oh… No. Not really."

It took some convincing on the part of the fiery-headed man to get the slightly cold Tobio to talk. But when he finally did talk, he was like a waterfall; never ending in his praise and admiration for the man they had met that morning. Oikawa may have given back the walking stick, but had run off with his heart – was something Tobio might have said if he had been a bit more poetically inclined.

The young, black haired man sighed as he thought of the man who had so courageously saved him. "Do you think", Tobio asked when they had almost arrived home, "he will remember me?"

"Why would he not?" Hinata grinned from ear to ear. "You are good looking, wealthy and well mannered. He would be stupid to forget about you."

Tobio shrugged. "Judging from his clothes he was not from here…"

"Oh, let's look at his card. We will find out where he is from." Hinata jumped up and down, excited at the prospect of finding out more about the handsome stranger.

"Not here. Let's go to my room to check. I don't want my lady mother finding out. He might not be an entirely proper person and you know how she can be…"

* * *

 **I** t was about twenty minutes later when Hinata emerged from the room, leaving a sobbing Tobio, who had kicked him out to be alone. The whole situation with the stranger looked somehow bleak. It was not very likely that his heart's wish would come true, now that they had looked at the information about the dashing man.

Oikawa Tooru was from Karasuno, and unfortunately not even the better part of that. It would probably take him a lifetime to earn enough money to be granted the right to live in another, better suburb – and Aoba was probably beyond his reach. Tobio, the heir to the title of Lord Itou was therefore quite convinced that he would never be with the man he had just fallen in love with and it broke his heart.

Hinata, ever the optimist, set it into his head to go and tell the lady of the house, Tobio's lady mother, about how her son had lost his heart to a stranger. Who knew, maybe something could be done about the situation. Somehow, he had a feeling, that he had heard the name, Oikawa of Tamiya, before…

The orange haired man walked down the corridors of the mansion, bracing himself for the conversation he was about to have. He was not very diplomatic, but he hoped to be able to appeal to Lady Kiyoko's love for her son and then maybe a miracle could happen.

He had another servant knock at the door to the drawing room which the black haired woman used to spend her afternoons in, and had the lower servant announce his wish to have a private conversation with her.

So he was announced and granted entrance.

"O-Maki, my dear, how can I help?" Lady Kiyoko asked, looking up to him from her book, which she had been reading sitting in an armchair.

"Lady Kiyoko" Hinata greeted her by bowing a little. "It is always a pleasure to be granted to see you."

Lady Kiyoko smiled and bade him to sit down in an armchair opposite of her. The young, orange haired man did as he was told, feeling a tinge less nervous. However, as soon as his employer asked what it was that he wanted, why he had come to talk to her, he was again very agitated. It took him every last bit of restraint to not jump up and pace the room as he began to outline what had happened that morning and recount how Tobio had helplessly fallen in love.

"But who is that young, courageous man?"

"His name is Oikawa Tooru" Hinata said and swallowed hard. "He told us, that he was also known by the name of Tamiya – apparently after his birth place."

"Oikawa Tooru of Tamiya?" Lady Kiyoko asked, sounding slightly curious. Hinata nodded. Her face went pensive and silence settled between them.

Hinata became more nervous as the silence dragged on, as he had not told her about yet what was problematic about the man. He had hinted on it but not explicitly stated it.

"I think" Lady Kiyoko finally broke the silence "I have heard the name before. There was a family in Shiratorida with a son by that name, if I remember correctly." Hinata's face lit up, maybe not all was lost. He was about to speak when Lady Kiyoko said: "But he married a man by the name of Hajime or Ichi or something. But what does it matter what his name was? He was someone well beneath Oikawa of Tamiya's social standing and they ended up having to move to some suburb or other."

His heart sunk. "He is married?" Even if Oikawa Tooru living in Karasuno had not been a problem, then him being married definitely was. Sadness grew inside Hinata's heart, he did not want to think about breaking this kind of news to Tobio; the news might well be the final blow to him.

Meanwhile, Lady Kiyoko remained calm. "Well… If he still is married, then having him divorce his husband would be the solution."

Hinata blinked. "Oh, right." He had not thought that far. But how would someone be made to divorce? "But… He might not want to."

"Who ever sees my lovely O-Ume will want to", Lady Kiyoko stated calmly. "We ought to have a talk with Lord Itou and bring the topic to his attention."

They decided to sound Tobio out on the topic and confirm if he really wanted to be with Oikawa Tooru of Tamiya during dinner. Lady Kiyoko pretended that some servant or other had informed her about the gossip on the street about the young master having been mugged in the park that morning. It did not take much convincing on the part of the lady mother to make her son speak, as he was used to telling her and his lord grandfather everything. As the young man recounted the story and told them the name, they broke the news to him that said man was already married and Tobio's expression went blank.

He gulped. "Well, then all is lost", he murmured devastated.

"But why?" His lord grandfather asked. "We shall send for him and have a talk with him. Nothing is lost yet." He tried to cheer his grandson up but the dark haired boy sulked throughout the dinner and retired early that night.

"We ought", said Lady Kiyoko afterwards when she and her father-in-law were sitting in the drawing room having some tea, "to get this Oikawa to divorce that bundle of un-luck he married."

"But how?" The head of the Azumane family seemed quite lost.

"Disfigure the husband", Lady Kiyoko stated calmly.

"Disfigure?" Lord Itou said astonished. He had known his daughter-in-law to be quite ruthless but not this savage.

"Well, I am sure he only married that Ichi or whatever his name is for his looks, if he loses them…"

"But…"

"Do you want your grandson to be happy?"

"Yes."

She looked her father-in-law straight into they eyes and stated matter-of-factly: "Then that is the way."

* * *

Author's note:

Dear munchkin kittens & tortoises

Thank you very much for reading and those few of you who commented so far: I really appreciate you!

Credits to my beta LilyPhantomhive01 for helping me with this chapter.

Now two things I want to apologize for:

1\. Shimizu Kiyoko being so OOC! (But I needed someone badass and from the very few female characters from Haikyuu she fit the role of Kageyama's mother best.)

2\. The next chapter most likely being published late. I know, it might be weird to announce this 2 weeks in advance, but I will have my exams soon, so I really have to concentrate on my studies and will not be able to write any new chapters. Fic's like An Even Match which still have unpublished but finished chapters will be updated, but with this story here we've reached the pre-prepared chapters, gomennasai and so I will have to put it on hiatus.

Jia ne


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note:

Munchkin kittens, tortoises

Sorry I didn't upload this sooner. I'm really ashamed for being behind like 4 chapters... I hope you still like the story & I will try to upload something sooner, but can't promise as I am rather busy with my studies right now...

Jia ne

* * *

Chapter 4

 **I** t was around lunchtime when Hinata walked through the large gate that divided Aoba and Karasuno. As a residence permit holder of Aoba he was allowed to go anywhere he pleased and so he took advantage of this to go and find Oikawa Tooru's home. There where two things he had to do, deliver an expensive cosmetic cream as a present to Oikawa's husband and an invitation to the man himself to visit the head of the Azumane family.

The orange haired man shuddered when thinking of the cosmetic cream. It was indeed from an expensive brand – but for other reasons than one would suspect. Lord Azumane had insisted on the disfiguring being not painful, as he did not like to inflict more pain than necessary on the poor husband who was unlucky enough to be in the way, so Lady Kiyoko sent one of her servants to buy a cream that would cause the skin of the user to burst open and leave ugly scars.

Hinata made a mental note never to get on the bad side of his employer and drew the map of Karasuno from his pocket. They had had someone draw the streets and approximate location of the Oikawa residence on a piece of paper. The streets of the suburb were dirty, he noticed and frowned. He was not much of a clean freak but those streets even disgusted him. What a lucky bastard he was that he could return to clean and save Aoba after he had finished his disturbing errand.

 **Y** amaguchi strolled through the streets and alleyways of Karasuno, not exactly knowing what he wanted to do. It had only been a day since he had killed his former employer Haiba Lev; the body had not yet been detected by the police or at least Yamaguchi had not heard of such rumours. He would have heard if someone had found the body, he was sure, because Haiba Lev was not some nobody everyone would be indifferent to if his dead body showed up somewhere.

He sighed as he thought of the incident. He hoped the corps would never wash up and be lost to the world. He hoped that even if it should be found no one would get the idea to ask him anything about it. Then again why would they? Haiba had had more than just him as his enemy. He had had many employees he had fired. He had not exactly been Mr Most-Popular.

It was late afternoon; Yamaguchi had not much to do. His day's work had been done and he had been dismissed, so there was still much he could do. One option, he thought, would be to visit Yachi. There had to be a way to apologize for his former behaviour. He had to somehow get on her good side again, maybe then she would consider being friends with him again – and after friends he might convince her to become more, of course. He had not given up on the idea that she could choose him over her fiancé, Tsukishima Kei.

Maybe he should lend her money, he thought. Not that he had much himself, but if she was indebted to him… "Hm… Not the worst idea", he mumbled under his breath. But he wasn't exactly sure how he would be able to pay for his own living expenses if he would lend out money to her. Maybe helping her out with manual work would be better? Of course, she had her brother Hajime and her brother-in-law Oikawa, and her father who could help out with many things, but Hajime was usually tied to his own home with the mending he did and Oikawa was about town, never to be seen at the same work place two days in a row and probably not readily available. As for the father… Yamaguchi had a hunch about that, but he was not quite sure. Or at least he had not been before he had walked down to the riverbank and spotted some policemen dragging a body out of the water from a slightly muddy part of the river.

The body belonged to an elderly man who had been a bit gaunt with dark hair that was white in places. Yamaguchi had not interacted with the man much but he was quite sure whom he saw being carried to a donkey drawn cart by two bulky policemen.

The brown haired man with the freckled face turned around as soon as he was certain that he was not mistaken and made his way towards Yachi's place. He had to tell her. And then he had to console her. That was exactly what was his duty.

 **T** here was a knock at the door. Like in most buildings in this part of town, there was no electronic buzzer or similar device to press to make the people living in the house aware that there was a guest or travelling salesman at the door.

Hajime shouted that he would come and open the door in a minute, stood up form the chair he had been sitting on, straitened his clothes to look at least a little bit presentable and went to open the door.

As he opened the wooden door he saw a young man, well dressed with unruly orange hair standing there. Actually, he was not only well dressed but superiorly so and Hajime understood from the young man's posture that he had to be from Aoba. He had seen enough people who had been born and bread in good circles in Shiratorida and Aoba that he did not mistake a want-to-be for the real deal. Hajime's eyebrows creased on their own as he asked: "How can I help you?"

The young man smiled the brightest smile Hajime had seen in a while. "I am Hinata Shouyou, companion to Azumane Tobio, the heir of the esteemed family of Azumane Asahi", the young man introduced himself. To Hajime it seemed that the boy tried to be friendly, as his smile did not seem fake and neither did the sparkling in his eyes as he said: "Nice to meet you. I assume that you are Oikawa Hajime, Oikawa Tooru's lawful husband?"

Hajime nodded, not knowing what to say. His eyebrows rested in place. His resting bitch face was not easily replaced.

"I am here because your good husband has rescued our young master from a distressing situation yesterday and we wanted to show our gratitude to him. To be quite clear, the head of the Azumane family, Azumane Asahi has requested that your good husband would come and visit the Azumane residence in order to receive the proper thanks of the head of the family."

Hajime blinked. His husband had done what?

"And we took into consideration that the money we have given him yesterday might not have been of much use, so the noble mother of our young master, Lady Kiyoko has given me a cream for you to put on your skin. We were informed that life in this part of town was rough on the skin." The orange haired man who called himself Hinata held out a small white box with a black lid. "Please accept our gratitude and give your husband the letter so that he will be able to pass through the gate to Aoba." He held out a cream coloured letter as well.

Hajime took both items and said thank you in as fancy a way he could remember to say it, but the time he had been living in Karasuno had taken its toll and his language had become a lot more coarse than it had used to be. Hinata did not seem to mind, winked at him and said his good-byes, leaving Hajime quite confused.

He put the letter on the table in the small kitchen and went back to his work.

When he had finished the most urgent batch of the remaining clothes he had to fix, Hajime got up from his chair, stretched and walked around the room. He did not feel like working anymore even though he knew that he had to get some more finished, otherwise he would not get everything done until the deadline. But it was hard for him to motivate himself to do things lately.

As he paced the room, his eyes caught the sight of the white box with the black lid again. He picked the present up and opened it. The cream inside was as white as the box and smelled excessively good. It was a slightly sweet smell with a hint of spice and Hajime was reminded of his life in Shiratorida. Many things had smelled so much better there than they did here in Karasuno. A feeling of nostalgia crept up inside his heart and Hajime looked around for a spoon or something similar to use to take some cream to apply to his face. He didn't like cream and such things on his hands so he used other things to apply substances to his face. He found what he looked for quickly and began applying the nice smelling cream to his cheeks and forehead.

He inhaled the smell of the cream and relaxed for a moment before he started to work on the next batch of things he had to mend.

It was about an hour passed. Hajime's face felt a bit tingly but he didn't think much about it, it was probably one ingredient or another that made the cream do it. It was sort of relaxing, he decided and so he was in a really good mood when he heard Oikawa Tooru enter their home. "Hello", he called and told his husband right after that there was a letter for him in the kitchen from a man named Hinata Shouyou in the name of a family named Azumane. Hajime did remember that that family was rather important and he thanked Oikawa for being such a good and upright man.

It took Oikawa a while to get from the kitchen to the room where Hajime was mending his work. The black haired man looked up from his work and smiled at his husband. "Hinata-san also brought me a present from the family as well. It was a cream to protect the skin." For reasons not really comprehensible to Hajime, his husband turned around with a weird expression on his face as soon as he had entered the room. "Where are you going?" Hajime called after Oikawa as he heard him exit the house.

Hajime blinked in bewilderment, what had he done wrong? Why had his very personal Shittykawa left? Tears started to well up in his eyes and it took every resolve he had left no to start crying.

 **O** ikawa had left his house faster than he had ever left it. He had had fights with his husband during or after which he had not left the house that fast. He had usually stood his ground, but this time – he had been too shocked. What on earth had happened to Hajime's face?

The brown haired man tried to catch his breath as he looked around and found himself close to the gate to Aoba. It wasn't yet that late and he had the letter with him, so he decided to go and visit the Azumane family home. Maybe that would bring some clearance to the situation. He gathered up his courage, showed the letter to the person guarding the gate and entered Aoba. It was not that difficult to find the residence. He showed the letter again and was shown into the drawing room to wait to be shown into the office of Azumane Asahi.

The drawing room was a rather impressive room and it reminded Oikawa of how his life had been before he had married Hajime. He should never have married that good-looking devil.

He shook his head. Maybe it was not too late to change his life. He walked around the room and suddenly saw a picture of the young master Tobio, the heir to the name of Azumane, the prettiest young man he had ever seen in his life. Hajime had been good-looking back in the day. He had been handsome and well built but not pretty like Tobio with his delicate features and good breeding. He was a real catch, Oikawa knew and maybe this was it. Yes, this was it, he decided. He would get rid of Hajime and then get Tobio – now that he was in this house, he just had to somehow convince the grandfather of Tobio that this was a good idea.

Fortunately it did not take a lot of convincing or acting skill as Azumane Asahi assured him that as Tobio was head over heels for Oikawa, he, Asahi himself, the grandfather and head of the Azumane family, would not stand in their way. He just had to divorce Hajime and Tobio would become his husband.

Oikawa embraced the idea and told Azumane-san that he would do everything in his power to be free as soon as possible. There was only one thing to do and it had to be done quickly. So he excused himself after receiving a new letter from the Azumane family that would permit him to enter Aoba at any time and any number of times.

It didn't take him long to go back to Karasuno as he had no time to waste. Oikawa's heart was lighter as he walked directly to his friend's establishment. He had not seen that man in a while, but Oikawa was sure that he would do what ever he would propose to him as long as he could compensate him sufficiently.

He knocked at the back door and waited. It didn't take long for someone to open it a crack and ask for Oikawa to state his business.

"I want to see Kuroo", he said flatly and the door was shut again.

This time it took a bit longer before it was opened again and the black haired, blank faced employee of Kuroo who was in charge of finances, Oikawa vaguely remembered his name to be Akashi or Akaashi or Akashii or something, let him in, explaining that he could find Kuroo on the upper floor in one of the back rooms – which meant that the owner of the brothel had made use of his own goods.

Oikawa shuddered as he climbed up the stairs. He just hoped his old pal had enough decency not to have a half or fully naked prostitute lay around the room during their discussion. His worries were dispelled as soon as he entered the room, which the man downstairs had described him, as Kuroo sent the girl he had just 'tested' – as he liked to call it – straight out.

"Oikawa!" He said the greeting in a way that should sound cheery but was rather sleazy. "What an unexpected visit."

"Kuroo" Oikawa nodded courteously. "I see business is going fine?"

"Very well, very well, thank you." Kuroo grinned. "I recently had a new hire and her first day at work was overshadowed by an imbecile who tried to pay with counterfeits, so the investment hasn't paid off yet – but no worries, everything will be all right. How is life treating you?"

"In some respects very kind and in others very harsh. Let me tell you how it is kind to me and then how it is harsh."

"I suppose you want me to do something about the harsh part?"

"How ever did you know that?" A wide smile disfigured Oikawa's face.

Kuroo rolled his eyes but listened to his friend's story. His eyebrows narrowed the longer the narrative went on and at the end his face had taken a dark expression thanks to the creased eyebrows. "You really want me to do that?" He asked earnestly and looked Oikawa in the eyes.

"Yes. As soon as possible." The brown haired man held the stare.

 **Y** amaguchi had made his way to Yachi's house and knocked. When no one opened for him after about a minute, he carefully pushed the door open and called inside to see if there was any reaction. "Yachi, are you home? I came to apologize and to bring you some news."

Still there was no answer, so he tiptoed into the house, leaving the front door a crack open. He inched his way through the narrow entrance past a couple of jackets that had been hung on the wall and some dirty shoes. Yamaguchi paused for a moment, thinking about whether he wanted to take his off but decided against it as his socks had holes in them.

The flat in which Yachi and her father lived was small, which had not been unexpected. None of the living quarters in Karasuno were particularly big. This flat had three rooms and a kitchen, where Yamaguchi searched for Yachi first.

The kitchen was small. Besides the stove and a small cupboard there was only a table and four chairs crammed in and no sight of anything alive but for a small mouse in the corner.

Yamaguchi tore his gaze away and stepped into the living room. Apart from the furniture, which included a sofa that was probably used as a bed at night and a pair of armchairs in rather bad shape, there was nothing in there. The brown haired man walked through the room to the other side where there was another door leading in what he supposed was the bedroom. He knocked and opened the door.

He had not been mistaken by thinking that he would enter the bedroom. There was one rather small bed and a chest for clothes in there but again no human soul. Which meant Yachi would need to be either in the third room, which was located in the cellar of the building only accessible by a staircase that was located in the kitchen, or she was not home.

Yamaguchi closed the door behind him and went to the kitchen, calling for Yachi as not to startle her. He found her sitting in a corner of the cold room with stone pebbled floor and slightly damp atmosphere. This room had indeed been built for the activity Yachi used it for: washing.

"Yachi-san", Yamaguchi tried it with politeness, as he wanted to apologize for his former behaviour. Her reaction proved him right. Here eyes instantly widened and she retreated even further into the corner as soon as she saw him. "Oh! Please don't be afraid", he said quickly and stopped in his tracks. "I am truly sorry for the other day" he started his apology and continued on giving some reason or other why he had acted so strange. "Can you forgive me? Can we be friends again?"

The young blond woman hesitantly nodded. "If you can promise that you will not do anything against my will again."

"Oh, I promise." He tried to smile reassuringly.

"Okay, then we can be friends." She smiled shyly.

He stepped a bit closer and asked if he could sit down on a wooden tub that had been turned upside down. As he lowered himself on it he urged Yachi to continue working and she did as told. "As we are friends again… There is something I ought to tell you…"

"What is it Yamaguchi-san?"

"I took a stroll at the river bank just before I came here and… I'm not sure if I really should tell you… But…" He paused, unsure how to continue. "Where is your father?"

"He went on a pilgrimage."

"Oh… Then I am quite convinced not to be mistaken…" He got up again and looked at her with a miserable expression. "I am sorry to inform you" he almost chocked on the words that followed this statement.

Yachi dropped the cloth she had been holding in her hands and screamed. It was a high wailing scream. "No, you must be mistaken!"

"I don't think I am", he said in a very low voice.

"No!" Tears welled up in her pretty eyes. "He can't be dead...!"

Yamaguchi stepped closer and offered her a dirty handkerchief, which she accepted gratefully. She tried to dry her tears and Yamaguchi offered his condolences when they suddenly heard footsteps from above and a thundering voice calling: "Hello? This is Officer Sugawara, Sawamura Yachi-san are you home?"

Yachi's heart sunk as she put away her work and walked up the steps to meet the police officer in the kitchen. So it was really true… She glanced over at Yamaguchi who stood in the corner of the kitchen, distanced form her but still close enough to give her some comfort. How nice it had been of him to come over and prepare her for this awful moment. Maybe he had really just been out of his mind the other day… Maybe he was really just a kind-hearted soul.


End file.
